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I went on a litle road trip this weekend to visit some churches in Houston. After singing at a wedding on Saturday evening, I decided to drive to Houston to visit a few churches for Sunday morning. The line up included Faithbridge UMC, the Loft at the Woodlands UMC, and Ecclesia. I spent the night in my car across the street from Faithbridge. It was quite an adventure. I thought I would sum up my thoughts:
Faithbridge UMC – I tried the Traditions Service, to see what a traditional service started from a contemporary background looked like. I was hoping they were doing something unique, but it wasn’t that spectacular. The preaching of course was wonderful. The LIVE service next was everything I expected with great music and great preaching.
The Loft at the Woodlands – Wow! The media at the Loft is something amazing! The music was from a guest band called The Autumn Film with some great music from their new album Hymns, Page CXVI.
Ecclesia – Their converted old church facility throws every notion of what a growing church should look like off. The Autumn Film followed me from the Loft to play the 5:30 worship service. I love their bookstore and coffee shop. I could have bought every book. Their gallery was showcasing modern art depicting the 12 stages of the cross. What a venue for the creative, artsy types such as me.
As one of my friends stated “Ecclesia is very grungy.” I would agree that it is grungy, but not in a bad way. The people are much more ecclectic, but overall a young congregation. In an attempt to describe my experience through architecture, you got the sense that they spent money to make it nice, but not polished. The grunge effect says something about the church’s philosophy about spending their resources on mission. What a powerful statement in a world of million dollar mega-churches.
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